Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow enjoyed his scrap with Hiro Aoyama in today's Estoril MotoGP race even though he was forced to give best because his left arm was sore from compensating its injured opposite number.

The former World Supersport Champion says the right arm, on which he had surgery, held up fine over the 28 laps but the left became sore because it had been doing more than its fair share of the work.

“I'm happy enough with that because before the start of the weekend I'd have never thought it possible to finish in the top eight on a circuit I'd never even seen before. And considering I had problems with both my arms all weekend, it is a great feeling," said Crutchlow.

"My right arm, which I had the operation is fine, but my left arm is really sore because I've been compensating with it. But the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team have been awesome all weekend. They have experience of helping rookie riders and they are doing a great job for me.

"And they've adjusted the bike to help me feel more comfortable with the arm problems. It is a shame I couldn't quite beat Aoyama at the end. Earlier in the race I felt really comfortable and kept some really fast and experienced guys behind me. It was a really good battle with Aoyama and while I don't like to get beaten in a last lap fight, I gave him a good run for his money and it is great experience for me to be in a scrap like that.

"If I keep doing what I'm doing at the moment then there is no reason why on tracks that I know that I can't be even further up. I'm really looking forward to Le Mans now. It is a massive race for the Team being in France and also for Monster, so I'll be looking to get another top ten finish.”